1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cool air-supplying device for a computer system, and more particularly, to a cool air-supplying device that cools air using a thermoelectric cooler.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With the rapid development of information technology, computer systems are playing an important role in modernizing many companies and are now widely used in practically every industry. Due to the increase in data storage density, the improvement in operational speed, and the decrease in production costs, the manufacturing of portable computers has become a mainstream business in the computer industry.
When designing portable computers, dissipating unwanted heat is one of the most important problems to consider. In general, the source of most of the heat is the central processing unit (CPU). For this reason, heat dissipation systems in portable computers are mainly designed to expel the heat generated by the CPU. Along with improvements in system performance, increasing the operational speed of the CPU also increases the temperature of the PC components and the computer system. A poorly designed heat dissipation system may render the computer unstable at high temperatures and could even cause physical injury to users.
There are many methods for heat dissipation used on various portable computers and mobile communication devices. However, these prior solutions cannot be used to dissipate the ever increasing heat resulting from increases in the CPU speed and related components. Many new thermal technologies have come out to try and solve this problem. For example, Hitachi applies a water-cooled system for notebooks instead of the traditionalfan based air-cooling methods. But there are still many problems with the water-cooled system, including the weight, size, reliability of the water pipe, risk of water leaking, etc. Because traditional air-cooling methods used alone are not practical to provide a better thermal solution and applying a totally new thermal solution is problematic, using an air-cooling system combined with an additional heat dissipation device is the best choice.
Embedding an additional heat dissipation device requires enough space for dissipating heat and causes increased weight, size, and power consumption. This disobeys the developing trend of mobile devices which tend to be thin and light. A heat dissipation device outside the mobile device can avoid this limitation and yet achieve the required heat dissipation. Taiwan Patent Number 432274 shows a heat dissipation device docking to a mobile computer and includes a thermal pad for transferring heat from the computer system to the heat dissipation device by thermal conduction where the heat is then dissipated. But this prior art has defects of the contact problem, the pad material and structural problem, and the material fatigue problem. In addition, Taiwan Patent Number 493857 discloses a heat dissipation device including several fans for expelling heat from a notebook. But this prior art is limited to sucking air from the bottom case for cooling the bottom case directly but not the hot component, which leads to inefficient cooling design, and tends to be noisy to the discomfort of the user.
It is therefore a primary objective of the claimed Invention to provide a cool air-supplying device for a computer system to solve the above-mentioned problems.
According to the claimed invention, a cool air-supplying device for a computer system is disclosed. The computer system includes a computer apparatus and the computer apparatus includes a housing. The cool air-supplying device includes a casing connected to the housing of the computer system and the casing has an intake vent for receiving air and an outlet vent for outputting air. The cool air-supplying device further includes a thermoelectric cooler for cooling refrigerant within a heat pipe, the heat pipe installed inside the casing for transferring refrigerant cooled by the thermoelectric cooler to the outlet vent, and a first fan installed at one end of the heat pipe for transferring air cooled by the heat pipe to the housing of the computer system via the outlet vent.
It is an advantage of the claimed invention that the cool air-supplying device can dissipate more heat from the computer system as a whole and can be separated from the computer system. Users can use the computer with the cool air-supplying device attached while at home or in the office and can separate the cool air-supplying device when In transit. Since current design is a non-contact thermal solution, it does not have the defects the prior art has.
These and other objectives of the claimed invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment, which is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.